Sudan exhumes war victims from makeshift Khartoum graves ahead of rains

July 11, 2026 (KHARTOUM) – The Khartoum state government on Saturday said it had transferred the remains of 27 war victims to official cemeteries as part of an urgent drive to clear temporary graves from markets and residential areas before the rainy season.

A specialized local committee has been working since late last year to relocate bodies from makeshift burial sites in public squares, markets, and homes. The Khartoum locality government said in a statement that teams were working rapidly to complete the exhumations before the autumn rains disrupt operations.

The 27 remains were recovered from the Central Market area in coordination with the Forensic Medicine Authority. During the height of the conflict, intense shelling and the collapse of municipal services forced residents to bury both those killed in the fighting and those who died of natural causes in immediate, makeshift graves.

Local authorities said the transfers follow strict legal protocols, which include filing official documentation and notifying families of the scheduled exhumations. Unidentified bodies are also being systematically catalogued and reburied in formal cemeteries.

Abdel Moneim Al-Bashir, the executive director of the Khartoum locality, said the exhumation process is part of a broader push by a higher government committee to make the state safe for displaced residents returning home.

The task force, which recently transferred from the jurisdiction of the Sovereign Council to the Cabinet, is also tasked with restoring destroyed water, electricity, health, and education infrastructure.

Authorities have discovered hundreds of mass graves across Khartoum state. Most are believed to contain the bodies of victims of enforced disappearance, torture, and mass killings carried out by the Rapid Support Forces during their control of the capital.